Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao inaugurated the much-awaited Outer Ring Road (ORR) between Shamirpet to Ghatkesar that almost brings the entire 158 kilometre ORR into functioning, thus helping decongest the city.
Mr. Rao said that only 1.5 km is yet to be integrated into the ORR at Kandlakoi, and that will be done as soon as the pending court case is completed. The Minister also said that the 71 km service road of this stretch will be completed by 2017. The entire ORR has 316 km service roads, and in the near future, regional ring road of 292 km will also be constructed. He said the Gachibowli-Shamirpet stretch will be illuminated with LED lighting spending Rs. 30 crores on the same. The ORR, the Minister said, would soon have satellite townships.
Out of its total length of nearly 71 km, the northern arc between Patancheru and Pedda Amberpet has been constructed through JICA ODA loan amounting to 83.9 billion Japanese Yen (around Rs. 5,572 crore) in two phases. The loans also covers construction of 10 radial roads that provide efficient connectivity between the ORR and inner ring road, installation of Intelligent Transport System (ITS), toll plazas, toll administrative buildings, etc.
The 21.30 km main carriageway between Shamirpet and Ghatkesar will help traffic from Karimnagar and going towards Warangal and Vijayawada, as they need not enter the city. This will also reduce congestion of city roads in Secunderabad, Uppal and L.B Nagar. The stretch has three interchanges at Shamirpet, Keesara and Ghatkesar. The work on the Ghatkesar Interchange was delayed due to stay orders from the High Court, and stay has been vacated in January.
The project is being implemented by the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).
